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Because I Said So

There’s too much rain and wind. Umbrellas are useless, as they are flimsy compared to the forces of nature. Tonight, my first junior high class was canceled due to the typhoon. Saturday classes are canceled as well, and if this continues, then we might have Monday off too. These “typhoon days” really are just as exciting as snow days used to be in Nashville, as rare and far between as they were. Now I’m pretty sure that all my teachers definitely used to sit in front of the television praying that Bill Hall and the Snowbird will announce that schools will be closed in Davidson County.

My 5th graders had Phonics homework with -oo words, i.e. book, pool, school, etc. One of the exercises told them to take the word hook and change the first letter and last letter accordingly to make up different words. They don’t ever read the directions carefully, so John ended up writing “poop” for one of his answers (instead of “coop”) and handed it in. I don’t think he knew what that word even meant.

On another note, we have to do communication books for our students every week, which is basically a book where we rate their comprehension, spelling, participation skills, etc., and the highest score is a 1 and the lowest is a 5. A 4 means “needs work” and is perceived to be very bad, and I have to include a comment if I give a 4. The average is a 3, so I’m supposed to give everyone a 3, unless they’re better than the others, then I give them a 2. Now, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for most of my students, except a few 5th graders who have received 4’s because they talk way too much in class and it drives me crazy. And James, my 2nd grader who spaces out in class, and then his mom underlined my comment and added a note that said that if James continued to do so, please notify her. (Yikes, kinda reminds me of my mom.) So I felt kind of bad about that, but he seriously zones out and doesn’t pay attention.

Today, Ann, who is easily the best student in my 2nd grade class, said that she always got 1’s before me, and why do I only give 3’s and some 2’s? (Because that was what I was told to do!) I told her that maybe I have higher expectations than her other teachers, and the whole class went, “Awwwww Teeeeeeacher!” Then Stacy pipes up and goes, “My dad says that Teacher is very…”

Amused, I asked, “Very what, Stacy?”

Stacy ummed and ahhed for a bit, so I tried to help. “Hard? Mean? Bad? Come on, Stacy, what did he say?”

Then she replied that she only knew it in Chinese and didn’t know the English word, so I told her to tell me after class in Chinese. For the last 30 minutes of class, I couldn’t help but try to think of what Stacy’s dad could have said. Dumb? Inadequate? A terrible teacher?

After class, I had to stop Stacy before she ran out the door, and she threw two Chinese words at me.

which translates to strict in English.

Really? Teacher Tina is strict? I’m strict??

Uh oh, it really is in the genes. Am I turning into a strict Asian mom already?

Fun Fact: “Because I said so.” are the best four words in the English language.